Vance says the six-month Iran conflict is not a war, two days after about 100 U.S. strikes

At the first White House press briefing in more than 40 days, Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday, Sept. 3: "I wouldn't call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting." He said major combat ended with the roughly six-week campaign the administration named Epic Fury, and gave no end date. Central Command reported about 100 strikes on Iranian coastal targets on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

• Calling it a war would start the 1973 War Powers Act clock, forcing a withdrawal or a congressional vote.
• 55% of Americans already oppose the conflict.
• Thomas Massie (Rep-R Kentucky) called the label fight "an insult to the men and women fighting the war"; Democrats made the same objection.